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☆ Prosecutors used an AI tool to send a man to prison for life. Now the person who created it is under investigation.
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-06 | by ( Darius Rafieyan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +18 min

But prosecutors had no direct evidence tying Black to the location of the murder, an Ohio appellate court later said. In many cases, prosecutors themselves don't even have access to the source code and haven't reviewed the underlying technology. Back in Akron, the judge in Rankin's case ordered the Cybercheck evidence excluded after prosecutors failed to turn over the source code. The Summit County Prosecutor's Office declined to comment when reached by BI. It's unclear how many others may be behind bars because of Cybercheck evidence that was never rigorously scrutinized.

Persons: Adarus Black, Black, Na'Kia Crawford, Crawford, Adam Mosher, Mosher, Cybercheck, Chris Ramsey, It's, That's, Donald Malarcik, Summit County who've, Javion Rankin, Tyraye Carter, Rankin, Malarcik, Eric Zale, Zale, Mr, Shara Munn, she'd, Freiheit, Meghan, Breck, Roesch, weren't, They've, who's, isn't, Phillip Mendoza, Kimberly Thompson, Brian James, Tyree Halsell, Mendoza, Mosher's, Steve Michniak, Michinaik, William Holland, Brian Stano, Katherine Long, Jack Newsham Organizations: Business, NBC News, Cybercheck, Prosecutors, Police, Fleming College, Technicians, Akron Police Department, University of Saskatchewan, Summit, Prosecutor's, BI Locations: America, Akron , Ohio, Ohio, Colorado , New York, Florida, New York, Philadelphia, Houston, Denver, Akron, Summit County , Ohio, Canada, Toronto, Summit County, Boulder , Colorado, New Brunswick, Calgary, Colorado, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Colorado , Ohio, East Akron , Ohio, Summit, Portage County, Lake Erie

☆ Pornhub is awash in lawsuits. Unverified videos still on the site could bring even more, says the author of the new book 'Takedown.'
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-22 | by ( Laura Italiano | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +15 min

AdvertisementPornhub, launched in 2007 and based in Montreal, lets users upload amateur and professional porn videos in much the same way users upload to YouTube. "Performers" remain unverified in many thousands of pre-2024 videos, including those that pop up from search terms involving teens and violence, Mickelwait told Business Insider. Lawsuits and monitoringAn ever-growing number of lawsuits by some 300 plaintiffs allege the site knowingly profited from videos of their abuse. An excerpt from a federal judge's November order granting class-action status to one of dozens of Pornhub lawsuits. AdvertisementMost recently, she said, she reported to state authorities the Pornhub video showing a woman shouting in pain and asking not to be filmed.

Persons: —, Laila Mickelwait, She's, Mickelwait, It's, Pornhub, Sarah Bain, Aylo —, Rocky Shay Franklin, Nicholas Kristof, Bill Ackman, MindGeek, Netflix —, Laila, Mike Bowe, I've, Bowe, kG2TK2R8sj, Cormac J, Carney, Serena Fleites, Fleites, Bain, Cherie DeVille, Mike Stabile, Stabile Organizations: Service, Business, Ethical Capital Partners, Random House, Justice Defense Fund, Sunday Times, New York Times, Heinz, Unilever, KY, Pornhub, Netflix, Mastercard, Visa, Capital, US, Free Speech Coalition Locations: Montreal, Pornhub, Alabama, Florida, London, Manhattan, California, Bowe's, Bakersfield , California

☆ A.I.-Generated Child Sexual Abuse Material May Overwhelm Tip Line
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-22 | by ( Cecilia Kang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A new flood of child sexual abuse material created by artificial intelligence is threatening to overwhelm the authorities already held back by antiquated technology and laws, according to a new report released Monday by Stanford University’s Internet Observatory. technologies have made it easier for criminals to create explicit images of children. The organization’s CyberTipline, created in 1998, is the federal clearing house for all reports on child sexual abuse material, or CSAM, online and is used by law enforcement to investigate crimes. “Almost certainly in the years to come, the CyberTipline will be flooded with highly realistic-looking A.I. content, which is going to make it even harder for law enforcement to identify real children who need to be rescued,” said Shelby Grossman, one of the report’s authors.

Persons: doesn’t, ”, Shelby Grossman Organizations: Stanford, National Center for

☆ Loss, pain, harm: Grieving parents set the tone at this week’s tech CEOs hearing. It could change things
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-03 | by ( Clare Duffy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

New York CNN —Wednesday’s online youth safety hearing with some of the world’s leading social media CEOs was unlike the many that came before it in recent years. During the hearing, Zuckerberg and Spiegel, along with the CEOs of TikTok, Discord and X, also faced calls to meet with the families affected by their platforms. And Wednesday night, after the event, some parents said the apologies did not go far enough. X CEO Linda Yaccarino thanked the “parents, families, and young people” who attended the hearing in a post on the platform. “We just saw yesterday the extent of the damage that this has done, these platforms have done,” he said.

Persons: Mark Zuckerberg, Evan Spiegel, Zuckerberg, Spiegel, Bridget Norring, “, Joe Benarroch, Linda Yaccarino, ”, ” Clint Smith, ” Snap’s Spiegel, Charlie, Connecticut Democrat Sen, Richard Blumenthal, ” Minnesota Democrat Sen, Amy Klobuchar, they’d, New York Democrat Sen, Chuck Schumer, …, Schumer, ” Sam Chapman, Missouri Republican Sen, Josh Hawley, Dick Durbin, Hawley, we’re, –, Brian Fung, Morgan Rimmer Organizations: New, New York CNN, CNN, ”, Meta, Connecticut Democrat, ” Minnesota Democrat, New York Democrat, Missouri Republican, Democratic Locations: New York, Snapchat, Connecticut, ” Minnesota

☆ A Senate hearing with top tech CEOs about online child safety had plenty of fireworks
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-01 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

NEW LOOK Sign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. In today's big story, we're looking at the grilling tech CEOs got during a contentious Senate hearing, with one notable exception. The big storyTech on trialAnna Moneymaker/Getty ImagesTech CEOs testified in a Senate hearing that turned into the type of fiery debates found on their social-media platforms. Executives for Meta, TikTok, X, Snapchat, and Discord were grilled by US lawmakers during a contentious Senate hearing on online child sexual exploitation. The most shocking moment involved Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, BI's Lauren Steussy reports.

Persons: —, we're, Anna Moneymaker, Aaron Mok, Camilo Fonseca, Mark Zuckerberg, BI's Lauren Steussy, GOP Sen, Josh Hawley, Zuckerberg, Shou Zi Chew, Republican Sen, Tom Cotton, Linda Yaccarino, Alex Wong, Chew, X's Yaccarino, BI's Katie Notopoulos, Yaccarino, Katie, It's, there's, Sen, Lindsey Graham, We've, Jerome Powell, Win McNamee, Troy Rohrbaugh, Jamie Dimon, it's, Jeff chiu, Alyssa Powell, Byron Allen, Dan DeFrancesco, Hallam Bullock, Jordan Parker Erb Organizations: Business, Service, Tech, Getty Images Tech, Meta, GOP, Republican, Chinese Communist Party, Pew, Big Tech, Federal Reserve, Paramount, Getty, Apple Locations: Washington, Washington ,, New York, London

☆ Lawmakers to grill CEOs of Meta, TikTok, X and other social media firms at hearing on child safety
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-31 | by ( Jonathan Vanian | In | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Mark Zuckerberg, Linda Yaccarino, Evan Spiegel and other leading social media executives face a grilling on Wednesday from lawmakers concerned about child exploitation and safety on their services. Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle have blasted the companies for failing to properly address what some have called a "plague of online child sexual exploitation" on social media apps. Wednesday's hearing is focused specifically on issues pertaining to child exploitation and the prevalence of child sexual abuse material on social media. The social media executives are expected to detail their efforts combating child exploitation on their platforms, which include working with law enforcement and tasks like proactively identifying potential predators. Watch: Early Meta platforms investor Brad Gerstner tackles big tech ahead of key earnings week

Persons: Mark Zuckerberg, Linda Yaccarino, Evan Spiegel, —, Shou Zi Chew, Jason Citron, Sen, Dick Durbin, Lindsey Graham, S.C, Citron, Meta, Brad Gerstner Organizations: Meta, U.S, Senate, Intelligence, Capitol, Washington , D.C, TikTok, Spiegel, Google YouTube, Committee, Lawmakers, Electronic Frontier Foundation, American Civil Liberties Union Locations: Washington ,, Washington, . New

☆ Lawmakers rip into tech CEOs at Senate hearing on online child sexual exploitation
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-31 | by ( Aaron Mok | Camilo Fonseca | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

US lawmakers grilled CEOs from tech giants on their platform's online safety practices. Senators appeared to be bullish on whether the tech CEOs support their proposed laws. AdvertisementUS lawmakers grilled tech CEOs about their companies' online safety practices during this week's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on online child sexual exploitation. During the hearing, which kicked off on Wednesday, US lawmakers were seen interrogating CEOs at tech giants like Meta, TikTok, and X on how they run their platforms and keep them safe. Advertisement"I hope you hear what is being offered to you and are prepared to step up and do better," Butler told the Meta CEO.

Persons: —, Sen, Lindsey Graham, there's, Graham, X's Linda Yaccarino, Snapchat's Evan Spiegel, –, Ted Cruz, Mark Zuckerberg, Zuckerberg, Cruz, – Zuckerberg, Shou Zi Chew, ByteDance, Chew, Cruz didn't, Tom Cotton, Richard Blumenthal, Blumenthal, California Sen, Laphonza Butler, Meta, Butler Organizations: Service, Meta, Chinese Communist Party Locations: China, Connecticut, California

☆ Meta, X, TikTok, Snap and Discord face growing appetite in Congress for tighter social media regulation
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-31 | by ( Jonathan Vanian | In | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

(L-R) Shou Zi Chew, CEO of TikTok, Linda Yaccarino, CEO of X, and Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee at the Dirksen Senate Office Building on January 31, 2024 in Washington, DC. Tillis and other lawmakers accused the tech executives of failing to protect children from sexual exploitation on their respective social media platforms. Growing appetite for regulationTo be sure, both Republican and Democratic senators were united in their conviction that social media firms are failing the American public and directly harming young people. Still, it takes time for bills to get passed, and all of these social media firms are still getting slammed for child-safety related issues, which could keep the topic fresh in the minds of politicians. Watch: Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg apologizes to parents at online child safety Senate hearing.

Persons: Shou Zi Chew, Linda Yaccarino, Mark Zuckerberg, Meta, Alex Wong, Sen, Thom Tillis, Tillis, Josh Hawley, Zuckerberg, Tom Cotton, Chew Organizations: Dirksen, Facebook, Republican, Democratic, Meta, New, Apple, Lawmakers, Chinese Communist Party Locations: Washington , DC, Cambridge, China

☆ Opinion: Mark Zuckerberg’s extraordinary apology should only be the beginning
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-31 | by ( Opinion Kara Alaimo | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

CNN —On Wednesday, the chief executives of Meta, TikTok, X, Snap and Discord testified before the Senate about what they’re doing to protect kids from harm online. In the leadup to the testimony, tech companies announced new initiatives to protect kids. The Stop CSAM (Child Sexual Abuse Material) Act of 2023 would make it possible to hold tech companies civilly liable for hosting child sexual abuse material. This would be an important way of incentivizing tech companies to do more to protect kids from sextortion and other forms of online exploitation. Tech companies also have a lot more work to do.

Persons: Kara Alaimo, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, TikTok’s Shou Chew, Democratic Sen, Dick Durbin, Snap’s Evan Spiegel, X’s Linda Yaccarino, Discord’s Jason Citron, Kara Alaimo Durbin, “, —, ” South Carolina Republican Sen, Lindsey Graham, Chew, Yaccarino, Spiegel, Zuckerberg, it’s, Taylor Swift Organizations: Fairleigh Dickinson University, Women, Press, Facebook, CNN, Meta, Senate, Democratic, Illinois, ” Senators, ” South Carolina Republican, Tech, Media Locations: ”

☆ Facebook and Instagram content enabled child sexual abuse, trafficking: New Mexico lawsuit
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-06 | by ( Rohan Goswami | In Rohangoswamicnbc | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Facebook and Instagram created "prime locations" for sexual predators that enabled child sexual abuse, solicitation, and trafficking, New Mexico's attorney general alleged in a civil suit filed Wednesday against Meta and CEO Mark Zuckerberg. The suit was brought after an "undercover investigation" allegedly revealed myriad instances of sexually explicit content being served to minors, child sexual coercion, or the sale of child sexual abuse material, or CSAM, New Mexico attorney general Raúl Torrez said in a press release. The suit alleges that "certain child exploitative content" is ten times "more prevalent" on Facebook and Instagram as compared to pornography site PornHub and adult content platform OnlyFans, according to the release. "Child exploitation is a horrific crime and online predators are determined criminals," Meta said in a statement to CNBC. The lawsuit argues that Meta's algorithms allegedly promote sex and exploitation content to users and that Facebook and Instagram lack "effective" age verification.

Persons: Mark Zuckerberg, Chuck Schumer, Instagram, Raúl Torrez, Meta, Zuckerberg, Mr, Torres Organizations: Facebook, Intelligence, Senate, U.S, Capitol, Washington , D.C, Meta, CNBC, National Center for Locations: Washington ,, New Mexico, Mexico

REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsBRUSSELS, Nov 22 (Reuters) - EU lawmakers agreed on Wednesday to draft rules requiring Alphabet's (GOOGL.O) Google, Meta (META.O) and other online services to identify and remove online child pornography, saying that end-to-end encryption would not be affected. EU lawmakers have to thrash out the final details with member states before the draft can become legislation in a process that may be finalised next year. An EU Centre on Child Sexual Abuse will be set up to act as a hub of expertise and to forward reports to the police. To avoid mass surveillance, EU lawmakers beefed up detection orders to allow judicial authorities to authorise time-limited orders to find and delete CSAM. These can only be issued if there is reasonable grounds of suspicion of child sexual abuse.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Foo Yun Chee, Alexander Smith Organizations: Facebook, REUTERS, Rights, Google, European, European Union, EU, Liberal, Thomson Locations: Rights BRUSSELS

☆ Ex-Twitter safety exec slams Elon Musk's move to reinstate account that shared obscured image of child being tortured: 'This guy blew up my life by saying I condone pedophilia and then he turns around
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-28 | by ( Grace Kay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Yoel Roth slammed Elon Musk's decision to reinstate a user that posted a child torture image. Yoel Roth, Twitter's former head of trust and safety, took a dig at Elon Musk's decision to reinstate an account that had posted an obscured image of a toddler being tortured. "For now, we will delete those posts and reinstate the account," Musk wrote on X, after McGee's suspension brought backlash from his right-wing supporters and a number of "Free Dom" posts. Roth, the site's former head of trust and safety, wrote on BlueSky that he found Musk's decision to be confusing. But after resigning from the role two weeks into Musk's ownership, Roth changed his tune.

Persons: Yoel Roth, Elon, Musk, Twitter's, Roth, Twitter —, Dominick McGee, McGee, he'd, Peter Scully, Dom, Barack Obama — Organizations: Morning, Elon, Twitter, Washington Post Locations: Australian, Philippines, British

☆ Instagram's algorithms are promoting accounts that share child sex abuse content, researchers find
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-07 | by ( Jonathan Vanian | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Instagram's recommendation algorithms have been connecting and promoting accounts that facilitate and sell child sexual abuse content, according to an investigation published Wednesday. Meta's photo-sharing service stands out from other social media platforms and "appears to have a particularly severe problem" with accounts showing self-generated child sexual abuse material, or SG-CSAM, Stanford University researchers wrote in an accompanying study. Stamos, who is now director of the Stanford Internet Observatory, said the problem has persisted after Elon Musk acquired Twitter late last year. "They then cut off our API access," he added, referring to the software that lets researchers access Twitter data to conduct their studies. Earlier this year, NBC News reported multiple Twitter accounts that offer or sell CSAM have remained available for months, even after Musk pledged to address problems with child exploitation on the social messaging service.

Persons: Instagram, Alex Stamos, Stamos, Elon Musk, CSAM, Musk Organizations: Stanford University, Wall Street Journal, Stanford, Policy Center, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Stanford Internet Observatory, Elon, Twitter, NBC News, YouTube

☆ Twitter trust and safety chief Ella Irwin resigns
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-02 | by ( Rohan Goswami | In Rohangoswamicnbc | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Twitter's head of trust and safety Ella Irwin resigned from her role at the Elon Musk-owned social media platform. Irwin ran the Twitter team that fought disinformation, removed offensive content and helped maintain Twitter's platform integrity. But Twitter has experienced significant challenges in stemming offensive content under Irwin's tenure and since Musk began serving as CEO. Irwin's departure comes at a turbulent time for the social media network, which was grappling with the dissemination of a conservative website's purported documentary on transgender people. The video was uploaded to Twitter's platform Thursday but was "visibility limited," preventing users from retweeting or commenting on it.

Persons: Elon Musk, Emmanuel Macron, Twitter's, Ella Irwin, Irwin, Musk, Yoel Roth, He's, Linda Yaccarino Organizations: Elon Musk, Reuters, Twitter, NBC News, CNBC Locations: Paris

☆ Senators blast Big Tech companies over kids’ safety amid renewed push for legislation
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —Senators from both parties blasted Big Tech on Tuesday and called for the passage of federal legislation to regulate tech platforms in the midst of a mental health crisis among young Americans. But Durbin hinted at a possible future hearing involving Big Tech representatives, saying “don’t worry, they’ll have their chance” as the committee invites them to weigh in on legislative proposals. The hearing comes amid renewed attention on the impact social networks are having on their youngest users. In his State of the Union address last week, President Joe Biden called for Congress to pass legislation to protect kids’ privacy and safety online. On Tuesday, senators promoted several new and existing pieces of legislation in the works to address different potential online harms.

Twitter on Saturday blocked searches for a series of hashtags and keywords used to promote the sale of child sex abuse material (CSAM) following an investigation by NBC News posted the day before. NBC News observed the hashtags over a period of several weeks, and counted dozens of users who collectively published hundreds of tweets daily. Irwin said in the last six weeks Twitter had been analyzing thousands of hashtags for a project that was scheduled for completion in the next few weeks. In a review of hashtags and tweets last week, NBC News confirmed that searches related to the file-sharing site Mega had been blocked. A former employee who asked to remain anonymous because they had signed a nondisclosure agreement said that many of the employees specifically tasked with child safety issues had departed the company.

Twitter accounts that offer to trade or sell child sexual abuse material under thinly veiled terms and hashtags have remained online for months, even after CEO Elon Musk said he would combat child exploitation on the platform. The tweets reviewed by NBC News offer to sell or trade content that is commonly known as child pornography or child sexual abuse material (CSAM). The tweets do not show CSAM, and NBC News did not view any CSAM in the course of reporting this article. The problem has been pervasive enough to catch the attention of some Twitter users. In 25 tweets, users tagged Musk using at least one of the major hashtags to alert him to the content.

Wickr Me, an Amazon-owned encrypted chat platform, stopped accepting new users after Dec. 31 and will shut down completely on Dec. 31 of this year, according to an announcement from the company. In June, an NBC News investigation revealed that Wickr Me had become a go-to product for many people trading child sexual abuse material. The investigation identified 72 court cases from the past five years in which the defendant allegedly used Wickr (as it’s commonly known) to trade child sexual abuse material. In its statement in November, the company explained that it was shutting down Wickr Me to devote more resources and focus toward its business-to-business products, AWS Wickr and Wickr Enterprise. In 2016, one of the first successful prosecutions against someone trading child pornography on the app was reported by the Deseret Morning News.

Meanwhile, Twitter’s resources to fight child sexual exploitation content online (and what is sometimes called child pornography or child sexual abuse materials) are thin, following layoffs, mass-firings and resignations from the company. Child sexual exploitation content has remained a problem for Twitter, though most major social media platforms continue to deal with it in some form or another. Moderation of this content usually relies on a combination of automated detection systems and specialized internal teams and external contractors to identify child abuse content and remove it. “So, I mean, that is disheartening.”It’s unclear how many Twitter employees remain to work on child safety issues. A search on LinkedIn for current Twitter employees who say they work on child safety turned up only a few accounts.

Less than a month after taking control of Twitter , Elon Musk said addressing child sexual exploitation content on the social media platform was "Priority #1." "It is a crime that they refused to take action on child exploitation for years!" Meanwhile, Twitter's resources to fight child sexual exploitation content online (and what is sometimes called child pornography or child sexual abuse materials) are thin, following layoffs, mass-firings and resignations from the company. Twitter's imperfect efforts fighting child sexual exploitation content were well documented. Stroppa said he felt Twitter's previous efforts were lacking and that it now moves quickly to find and suspend accounts that post child sexual exploitation content.

☆ Apple abandons controversial plan to check iOS devices and iCloud photos for child abuse imagery
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( Samantha Murphy Kelly | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —Apple is abandoning its plans to launch a controversial tool that would check iPhones, iPads and iCloud photos for child sexual abuse material (CSAM) following backlash from critics who decried the feature’s potential privacy implications. Apple first announced the feature in 2021, with the goal of helping combat child exploitation and promoting safety, issues the tech community has increasingly embraced. Apple was criticized in 2021 for its plan to offer a different tool that would start checking iOS devices and iCloud photos for child abuse imagery. Many child safety and security experts praised the attempt, recognizing the ethical responsibilities and obligations a company has over the products and services it creates. But they also called the efforts “deeply concerning,” stemming largely from how part of Apple’s checking process for child abuse images is done directly on user devices.

☆ Apple could sink Elon Musk's Twitter by yanking it from the App Store. But it would put Apple in jeopardy too.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Paayal Zaveri | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Elon Musk is claiming that Apple threatened to remove Twitter from its App Store. While Apple could find a reason to take Twitter off the App Store, it likely will not, experts said. Experts say Apple could find a reason to take Twitter off the App Store, and doing so would devastate the company. That could be a basis for Apple to remove Twitter from the App Store, Carolina Milanesi, an analyst with Creative Strategies said. Even then, Apple still likely won't remove Twitter from its App Store, because picking a fight with Elon would exacerbate antitrust criticism of Apple.

☆ Just one person remains on Twitter's Asia child safety team, report says, despite Elon Musk saying dealing with child abuse is his biggest priority
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( Sawdah Bhaimiya | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Only one person is left on Twitter's child safety team in Asia, Wired reported. Since the takeover, Musk has said that removing CSAM on Twitter is his number one priority. Twitter previously employed at least four employees focused on child safety in APAC, Wired found on LinkedIn. The employees were based in Singapore, Twitter's Asian headquarters, but publicly said three left Twitter in November. Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment about its child safety team in Asia-Pacific.

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